RENO " A federal panel has upheld an administrative law judge's ruling that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management illegally fired a former supervisor for speaking out about the health and safety dangers at a toxic mine site in Nevada.
The judge ordered the BLM to pay Earle Dixon two years worth of back pay and benefits totaling more than $120,000 in September 2006 after concluding Dixon had been fired in retaliation "for his whistleblowing activities" at the former Anaconda copper mine in Yerington about 60 miles southeast of Reno.
The BLM appealed that decision to the U.S. Labor Department's Administrative Review Board, which upheld the decision in an order issued last week.
The board also upheld the judge's order for the BLM to reimburse Dixon for $10,000 in moving expenses after he was fired in October 2005 as well as attorney fees and costs expected to exceed $50,000.